As energy sources based on fossil fuels become ever more expensive to maintain and their environmental cost is realized and quantified, the world has turned to renewable energy sources to combat these disadvantages of traditional energy generation methods. A sharply increasing demand curve continues to push the need for innovative new ways to generate power. There is thus a current need for new sources of energy that utilize renewable sources to generate that energy.
A particularly salient obstacle to power generation is the power input needed for use in the generation scheme. The input power required will inherently reduce the efficiency, and therefore the viability of, the system. Therefore, there is a need for a power generation scheme that utilizes natural phenomenon to both reduce the input power required to operate the system and to provide an energy source greater than the input power that the system can convert to a form of usable energy.
Previous work by the inventor has disclosed a power generation system based upon the use of, in combination or in part, natural pressure gradients, fluid flow and buoyant forces, for example in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/537,046. While those disclosed systems and methods have been shown to be effective in power generation, there remains further need for efficiency gains and variations upon these systems and methods in order to meet society's ever-growing energy needs effectively and in an environmentally friendly manner.